This story is getting bigger and bigger. Even though most Americans probably already knew, it is now official: the United States government, through its National Security Agency, is collecting the communications and data of all American citizens, and of non-Americans using American services, through a wide collaboration with the large companies in technology, like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly enough, the NSA itself, as well as the US government, have repeatedly and firmly denied this massive spying on Americans and non-Americans took place at all.

I've known about prism for years. I assumed everyone else did too. Maybe it was just an unconfirmed rumor until now (but the name for it is the same) or something. I just assumed it was true, because it makes a lot of sense that the government would be tempted to do something like that.

Suddenly, it starts to make even more sense why China is so hell-bent on creating its own alternatives to American products and services; they obviously knew about PRISM long before we did.

Yeah, no. China wants alternatives so that they can have the same info on their subjects that the US does. And unlike the US, they actively remove information from these sites and imprison those who write things they don't like. They are much heavier handed.

Edit:

I mean China is worse when it comes to dealing with its own citizens who are within its borders. Obviously, the US has used its intelligence gathered from programs like Echelon and Prism to identify subjects and locate them for drone strikes. That's probably worse than being stuck in a Chinese prison. Although, I would think the criteria that get you on a drone list is much more serious than that which can land you in a Chinese prison. Maybe China sucks more, but they both still suck.